Juncture
by sarcasticallydelicious
Summary: Two parallel lives intersect in the League of Legends. Leona/Diana
1. Parallel

Bicoastal adj. of or relating to or living or working on both the east and west coasts of the United States

* * *

Her name sets her apart from the beginning. That she is shy and asks the wrong questions does nothing to help the matter.

* * *

She fits her name, leaping fearlessly into the fray despite her size. It takes three children twice her age to contain her.

* * *

Diana wants to be devout, tries harder than any of them, spending hours in the sun trying to see what comes to the rest of them so naturally. She can too, if she tries hard enough.

* * *

Leona becomes the defender of the weak, champion of the small, even though she herself is hardly any larger. This make it all the harder when they are punished to get to her.

* * *

They lock her up to deprive her of the sun. Instead they give her the moon.

* * *

Her older friends begin to disappear. This only makes her fight harder for the ones she has left.

* * *

Late nights of research yield days of silent disapproval. What few friends she has slowly drift away.

* * *

Her breath comes ragged, harsher still whenever a kick lands on her broken ribs. Leona stays curled on the ground, gritting her teeth and refusing to let out a sound.

Her mother offers her the knife one more time.

"No," Leona says, and covers her head once again.

* * *

Diana throws the book on the ground, immediately regretting any damage she has done to it but not the looks on their faces.

"Why can't you just listen to me for once? Is being heard really so much to ask?"

Elder Aelus begins to speak, but Diana waves him off dismissively. "Yes, yes, two weeks in isolation. Just give me a few minutes; I have my books ready."

* * *

The Solari come for her, collecting the Rakkor's discarded refuse.

"I expected them to attack," the old man says when they clear the village, "The way they stared as we walked by."

"The Rakkor do not attack old men." Leona replies. "We are not cowards."

* * *

"Have I finally gotten through to you?" Diana asks the room of corpses, wiping her blade on bloodied robes until it shines silver.

She leaves without looking back.

* * *

"It will take some time to adjust to the sun's power," they tell her. "Rest. We'll take care of everything."

Burning with fever, Leona rolls from the bed as soon as she is alone. It is too soft for her to stand.

* * *

Alone in the cave, Diana heaves, emptying her already empty stomach. Though her body freezes and coughs rack her chest, she only has to look to the sky to remember she is not truly alone, and, for the first time in her life, free.

* * *

After years on the mountain's peak, the League is a shock. Everyone here is chosen in their own right. At first Leona resents it, but soon it is the thing she cherishes above all else.

* * *

The League is poison, a pit where all her darkest designs can sit and fester. They soak into her and help her forget all her nobler purposes. Nobler purposes are for naive little girls.


	2. Intersection

Juncture n. 1: joint, connection, 2: a point of time; especially: one made critical by a concurrence of circumstances

* * *

The League is poison, a pit where all Diana's darkest designs can sit and fester. They soak into her and help her forget all her nobler purposes. Nobler purposes are for naive little girls.

* * *

Leona cannot look at Diana without seeing a monster, which worries her because she also cannot see Diana without seeing herself.

* * *

Diana cannot see Leona without seeing a kneeler.

* * *

Fighting against her feel right. It feels that they have always done this, and will continue to, through cycles and lives and eternities.

* * *

Diana attacks and attacks and attacks. If she loses momentum she will have to think, so she seeks out her opposite at every opportunity, slashing and snarling and cursing.

* * *

"Do you enjoy it, hurting people like this?" Leona cradles Nami, who made the mistake of being too close during one of Diana's assaults. The broken look on Diana's face haunts her for days.

* * *

When does a person become a monster? And can a person come back?

* * *

"Return to your library, Diana," Leona's voice booms from above her as she lays splayed in the dirt. "You can do more good there than on the field."

* * *

It takes Diana a day to realize it is not meant as an insult. When she finally brings herself to go and sees the rows upon rows of books and smells the familiar scent of parchment and glue it feels like coming home.

* * *

At some point the summoners decide they are stronger together, reminding them again that though they are Chosen, they are pawns in more ways than one.

At what point they begin to believe it themselves, neither could say.

* * *

"Why haven't you killed me?"

Diana needs to know. She doesn't know why it's so important, but she can't stand next to her anymore if she doesn't understand.

"There were several times you could have, but you didn't. I'm sure the Solari wanted you to."

"Murder does not redeem murder." Leona's face twists to something unreadable. "There is more than one way to pay for your crimes."

Diana isn't sure what to make of that, but when she looks at Leona her opposite is smiling.

She is radiant. "You still have a chance to make something great. Don't let it pass you by."

* * *

Matches come and go, each just like the other. After so long fighting alone, it is both comforting and disconcerting to have a steady shield by her side.

* * *

"You sell yourself short." Diana stands waiting for her when she returns from her audience with the Solari. "Do not compromise yourself for them."

Leona stares after her long after she walks off.

* * *

The sun did not speak to her, has not interacted with her in any way past its continued patronage.

But she feels less and less in need of guidance.

* * *

Diana presents her findings on the Lunari to the League. Despite her damning conclusions, the Solari stay silent, except their champion who applauds louder than anyone else.

* * *

The Solari lay out their ultimatum. After years of asking and berating and everything in between, finally they simply ask her to choose.

"The sun chose me because I would not kill for the Rakkor. Why would you think I would kill for you?"

And she leaves.

* * *

The grand experiment is failing. The cracks grow more noticeable with each passing year, a key champion withdrawing, a minor argument being settled on the field and off the Rift.

* * *

A third of the Solari choose their champion rather than their security. Diana barely sees her for a month as she flitted around Runeterra to find a place for her people.

* * *

She is worried, Diana can see it, when Leona finally returns. She doesn't know when she gained that skill. Or how she knows it will help to finally close the distance between them.

* * *

Coming together feels right too.

* * *

Diana finds followers and drives them off, as surely as the moon's cycle. Leona gains them and loses control.

Eventually they find this is something else they are better at together.

* * *

Border skirmishes grow bolder by the day. A match is planned, and those in the Institute speak in corners in hushed tones.

* * *

"It's going to get bad," Diana whispers against her neck. She has gained a sense for these things, too.

"We do the same as always." Leona kisses her cheek, her nose, her lips. "We fight."

Like it is just that simple.


End file.
